Church’s Chicken St. Kitts to be the largest in the region, new employees turn out to work at Central Street location Monday

Nov 19, 2012

The sign is up but the work to be completed before opening continues inside

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, NOVEMBER 19TH 2012 (CUOPM) – The St. Kitts Church’s Chicken outlet that is set to open next month would not only be one of the largest in the region, but would be modelled on the one that is in Europe with its “European-style decor package.”

And although workmen are working feverously to complete the job before the official opening, new staff of 50, including those who returned to St. Kitts on Sunday following formal training in St. Lucia, reported to work at the Central Street location on Monday.

Shortly after arriving for duty, Country Manager, Ms. Nadia La Fond gave a pep talk on the need to “be focused, committed and honest.”

After three years of operation, the Rituals Sushi, Pizza Boys and Rituals Coffee in St. Kitts have a workforce of 200 employees – all local. Only the Country Manager and one other person are expatriates.

Group Chairman of Pizza Boys Group of Companies, Mario Sabga-Aboud, in an interview with the Business Guardian, at Pizza Boys head office on Lower Boundary Road in San Juan, Trinidad is confident that the overall brands under Burger Boys Ltd can withstand challenges posed in the external environment.

He said the new operation in St Kitts at a cost of US$1 million saw the return of 10 nationals who were trained in St. Lucia for the last two months and will join more than 40 people hired.

“It is one of our largest stores. An average store takes on about 35 people but we hired 50 there,” Sabga-Aboud said.

He is targeting December to open the St. Kitts Church’s Chicken because Carnival is celebrated in St. Kitts and Nevis on December 26, the day after Christmas.

Workmen continue working on the inside

The St Kitts’ market is not new to his company. Two years ago, Sabga-Aboud introduced the Rituals brand there and it turned out successful. The St Kitts market is lucrative for his business model because Sabga-Aboud said there are about 4,500 medical students studying and “students love to drink coffee” while studying.

“We have three coffee shops in St Kitts, which is one of my higher volume islands in all of the Caribbean,” adding that he opened a new concept establishment about six months ago, first of its kind and started in St Kitts, called Rituals Sushi bar.

“It is packed up every night and you have to make your reservations a couple days in advance. I am now about to open Church’s Chicken on December 4. It is going to be the largest store I have ever done. I have 18 in T&T but this one is going to be the largest one I have ever done.”

He believes that Church’s Chicken would be another success.

Equipment installed (Photos by Erasmus Williams)

“Caribbean people are chicken lovers. We love to eat fried chicken. Church’s (Chicken) brings a totally different perspective to me now on eating fried chicken. Everybody is very sensitive about fats and oils. We (Church’s Chicken) use a vegetable oil, soya bean oil with the least amount of fat as possible. We don’t pressure fry our chicken, we open fry our chicken and the oil doesn’t stay much in the chicken. We deliberately go for a bigger-sized birth so you get a bigger-sized chicken; more value for your money.

“We service hundreds of thousands a month. We listen. Because of technology, people are on Facebook and we get access to a lot of compliments and bad comments and we try to improve them. We take every call; we try to deal with our customers in that way.”

Adopting the business model which some bookstores have done internationally&mdash;having a coffee shop&mdash;is a lucrative idea. Barnes & Noble, Inc&mdash;headquartered in New York City, is one example of such a model. Burger Boys Ltd includes: Rituals Coffee House, Pizza Boys, Church’s Chicken, Wok n Roll, Vie De France, Donut Boys, VIP Flyers Club.